Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Q&A Interview and Giveaway with Brent Weeks

Brent was born and raised in Montana.After getting his paper keys from Hillsdale College, he had brief stints walking the earth like Caine from Kung Fu, tending bar, and corrupting the youth.(Not at the same time.)He started writing on bar napkins, then on lesson plans, then full time.Eventually, someone paid him for it!Brent currently lives in Oregon with his wife, Kristi.

Brent is the proud creator of the NIGHT ANGEL Trilogy and LIGHTBRINGER series.

The NIGHT ANGEL Trilogy consists of “The Way of Shadows”, “Shadow’s Edge”, and “Beyond the Shadows”.There is also “Perfect Shadow”, a Night Angel Novella, which was just released this past June.

The LIGHTBRINGER series currently only has 1 installment – “The Black Prism” – which was released on August 25, 2010.

For our readers who are not yet familiar with Brent’s work, let’s give you the rundown of his books…

NIGHT ANGEL TRILOGY:

“The Way of Shadows”

For Durzo Blint, assassination is an art-and he is the city's most accomplished artist.

For Azoth, survival is precarious. Something you never take for granted. As a guild rat, he's grown up in the slums, and learned to judge people quickly - and to take risks. Risks like apprenticing himself to Durzo Blint.

But to be accepted, Azoth must turn his back on his old life and embrace a new identity and name. As Kylar Stern, he must learn to navigate the assassins' world of dangerous politics and strange magics - and cultivate a flair for death.

“Shadow’s Edge”

Kylar Stern has rejected the assassin's life. The Godking's successful coup has left Kylar's master, Durzo, and his best friend, Logan, dead. He is starting over: new city, new friends, and new profession.

But when he learns that Logan might actually be alive and in hiding, Kylar is faced with an agonizing choice: will he give up the way of shadows forever and live in peace with his new family, or will he risk everything by taking on the ultimate hit?

“Beyond the Shadows”

In this action-packed conclusion to the Night Angel Trilogy, the assassin Kylar Stern faces an assignment that might prove impossible even for his deadly skills—-kill a goddess.

LIGHTBRINGER SERIES:

“The Black Prism”

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. But Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live: Five years to achieve five impossible goals.

But when Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he's willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

O.K, now that we’ve given you a sneak peek into Brent’s books, let’s get to the interview and find out a bit more about Brent and his work.

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:Hi Brent!Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us a bit today.

BRENT: Happy to be with you! And thanks for introducing me to your readers.

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:We like to start out by finding out a bit more about our guest author, and then we’ll dig into the book and series…

Q1): Can you tell us 3 things about yourself that we couldn’t find out easily on the Internet?

BRENT: I was defensive Player of the Year for my high school football team, I also wrote poetry, and my current mighty (and vain) struggle, is to make my yard look as good as my neighbors’.

Q2):Did anyone or anything special inspire you to become an author?

BRENT: The tremendous sense of solace and connection that you can make, despite the span of ages between you and an author, was something I discovered in 7th grade when I was reading Edgar Allan Poe. As soon as I discovered that unique power of literature – of finding someone else who thinks like you do, when maybe nobody in the real world does – I wanted to dothat.

Q3):What are some of your hobbies or things that you enjoy doing when you’re not writing or taking care of other author business?

BRENT: I’m a gamer, mostly consoles. I have been dabbling in the uber-geeky side of things in learning to play Magic the Gathering this past year. I’ve also been dabbling in learning to box. You feel really tough the first time all of your knuckles are skinned and bleeding – and then you just feel dumb for skinning your knuckles. I also hang out with my extended family a lot. Other than that, since my career has really got rolling, I’m working six days a week. So I don’t have too much time for extra hobbies.

Q4):If you could have a superpower, what would you want it to be and why?

BRENT: To directly control the thoughts and emotions of others. Muhaha!! (And I think “Muhaha” is fairly self-explanatory!)

Q5):If you were to write an auto-biography, what do you think you’d call it?

Q6):Who are some of your favorite authors and a couple titles in your TBR pile right now?

BRENT: George R.R. Martin, Winston Churchill, and Dean Koontz. Patient Zero by Jonathan Maberry, Tome of the Undergates by Sam Sykes and Shadow’s Lure by Jon Sprunk and the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe, and the Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson.

Q7):For our readers not yet familiar with your work, can you give us a rundown of the NIGHT ANGEL Trilogy and LIGHTBRINGER series in your own words?

BRENT: Since you’ve got the marketing schtick above, let me give you the short, unpretentious version. The Night Angel Trilogy is an assassin story with heart. (Odd, but it works.) It’s all about the tough choices people make to survive in horrible circumstances, and how heroism and nobility shine brightest in the darkest places. It is, above all, a story about love, love’s curious strength, and how different people react to that strength that feels like weakness.

Lightbringer is a story of magic, guns, and swordplay set in an alternate 1600 Mediterranean world where magic is everywhere. It’s a story of secrets, family, two brothers in love with the same woman, and the carnage they wreak, and the highest, dirtiest politics possible.Sort of like the political machinations of the Borgias and the Medicis, the stakes are both national and personal all at the same time.

Q8):Why did you feel like you had to tell these stories?

BRENT: Because I love them: they’re kick-ass and fun, and occasionally funny and heart-breaking. They’re the kind of stories that I love to read, that keep me turning the page until way too late at night. They’re stories that, despite great action sequences, and some cool visual feasts, really take advantage of the power of the written word. You get to know my characters in a way that no movie or TV show can convey. And you’ll love them or hate them, or if I did my job well, a little bit of both.

Q9):Was there any specific inspiration behind the creation of the NIGHT ANGEL Trilogy?

BRENT: I wanted to try to see if I could write an assassin character who isn’t, at core, a sociopath. That is, is there any way to make a good man actually take on the job of killing people for a living? And if he does it, what does that do to him?

Q10):How many books do you have planned for the LIGHTBRINGER series, and what can we look forward to as the series progresses?

BRENT: I plan to write it in three books, although I’m certain I have enough story for four. I always want to write books that are full of story, where lots of things are happening, that maybe you don’t even notice on the first read-through. I want to be the antithesis of the boring book. Or the series that goes on forever, just milking you as a reader because the author knows that you “have to finish it” after a certain point, so they can just make you buy and buy and buy. I want readers to be utterly satisfied and wanting more because the last book was so good, not because they just want to see it end.

Q11):What else is in the works for Brent Weeks outside of NIGHT ANGEL and LIGHTBRINGER?

BRENT:After I finish the Lightbringer books, I plan to return to the world of Night Angel and write more there. That’s been my plan all along, but I didn’t feel before that I had the skills and experience as a writer to tell the story that I wanted to tell as well as I wanted to tell it. Lightbringer has given me that. I also have some prospects of a movie, and a videogame in the works.

Q12):What’s a typical work day like for you?Do you have a writing routine or things you absolutely cannot go through your day without?

BRENT: Coffee! I try to write all morning every day, getting between 1-2,000 words, and then I take care of the business side of work in the afternoon. Of course, it’s not always that neat, and when your editor calls to talk to you at 8 o’clock in the morning, you take the call.

Q13):In a day far in the future when you decide to retire and stop writing, what thoughts do you want to have when you look back on your career and achievements?

BRENT: I don’t think I’ll ever stop writing. It’s not really a job, it’s a passion for me. I enjoy it, I enjoy more having done it, and I feel pointless if it’s been too long since I have. That said, when I look back, I want to think that I told great stories, that I wrote with as much passion and honesty as possible, that I tried tougher challenges with every book and never got complacent, and that I touched lives and hearts. And I hope to do all those things while keeping my family first.

Q14):Is there a question that you have always wanted to be asked in an interview but have never been asked?How would you answer that question?

BRENT: Yes, there is! And the answer is 197.

…

Q15):Is there anything specific you would like to say to your readers while we have you here today?

BRENT: I just talked with my editors today and they agree with my beta readers that The Blinding Knife may be my best book yet. It’s going to be out in September of next year, and I am getting really excited about it. There are scenes that you write as an author that you just imagine readers reading and being floored. And this book has a couple of those. So I have a huge amount of anticipation, waiting to see what kind of emails I get, and as with all things in an author’s life, I will have to wait about a year to see it. Also, I should mention that I post at least weekly at my website, and there’s cool stuff there like a book trailer for The Black Prism.

LITERAL ADDICTION/Book Monster Reviews:Brent, thank you so much for being with us today!We’re very happy to help you promote the NIGHT ANGEL Trilogy and “The Black Prism”.We hope that we have introduced some new readers to your work, and we’re excited to see what you have in store for us in the future.

BRENT:Well, thank you very much for your questions, and for taking the time to do this with me today. Honestly, I never thought anyone was going to ask me my favorite prime number!

BRENT is graciously offering up a large t-shirt of the Perfect Shadow GraphicAudio cover and a Perfect Shadow poster signed by the cast and Brent to a winner from LITERAL ADDICTION and a winner from Book Monster Reviews.

To Enter: Make sure you are a member of the Book Monster Blog (by clicking on the “JOIN THIS SITE” button at the top left hand corner of blog page), and then post a comment on the interview with your email address.

*Any comments without an email address will NOT be entered into drawing.

GOOD LUCK!!!!

Don't forget to drop by the LITERAL ADDICTION website (http://www.literaladdiction.com/) and follow the directions and links to enter their contest for an extra chance to win!!!

46
comments:

Thanks for introducing me to Brett...er, Brent. Night Angel looks good. I'll have to check it out.Brent, your answer should be 187. That's the police code for murder.Since your book is about an assassin that would be appropriate.LOLaunttackyx18 (at)verizon (dot) net

I'm not familiar with this author, but after reading the interview I am intrigued. An assassin with heart? Really? I'll be looking for these books~sound like something my son may also be interested in reading in a few more years.

i can't wait till you get back to the night angel world. i hope it's after the series, we already know what happened before lol. i wanna see kylar and vi again but most of all i can't wait to see what the "twins" do!

Hey Brent :)Can't wait for the next Lightbringer book, been a fan ever since I got NaT for Christmas! Shared the experience with several of my friends so far, all of them loved it!All the best,jani.190@hotmail.com

It's fantastic to pick up a giant book for once. No reader wants the story to end, and you keep us reading. I could go on and on about your world-building skills, or the multiple dimensions that your characters have, but I won't. Because in the end, the world's a stage (no matter how well-designed it is) and the characters the players (regardless of how deeply you connect to them).

It doesn't matter how flashy your fight scenes are, or how much of a bad-ass assassins can be. The story is everything.

And for those of you who posted that you aren't familiar with Brent? Get familiar. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you for the opportunity to hear a bit more from Brent, he's a very talented author that takes his genre to another level, somehow going further into his character development, and storyboarding with less restraint and more flow than many of his contemporaries. I give him a lot of respect and admiration, and continue to enjoy the work he produces. I eagerly await him taking on more of the Night Angel World, With bated breath I wait to see where he will take me next....

Brent is awesome and by far one of my favorite authors. I remember when I bought "Way of the Shadows" I read half the first day then went back the next day to buy the rest of Night Angel. Can't wait for Blinding Knife and my copy of Perfect Shadow!

I would love to read some of this books! I like to play videogames to but my cousin is the king of consoles in my family, can you tell me how can i beat him? He always win! :/ Thanks for the interview!Nice to meet you Brent!

You are by far one of my favorite authors of all time! (The only one to actually get 5 stars on Goodreads for example). I read your Night Angel Trilogy in three days... and not because they were short, but because they were that good. There was soooo much more I wanted to know, so much potential for you to go back and build on other characters and subjects you hinted at in the book. I'm pleased you said you would return to the Night Angel world after your current series is done. I can't wait for my leather bound copy of Perfect Shadow to get here, I knew I'd regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't snag one of those.

Black Prism was spectacular as well, though I'm waiting for Blinding Knife before I can compare the two series together. Though, I can't help wondering... what IS your color?

Please, never stop writing. I'm bored with all the same-o, same-o out there. It's fresh to have a unique and great author hit the scene where I found it slowly dying.

Brent, you are one of the best authors I've ever had the pleasure of reading. My best friend kept going on and on about how wonderful your books were, and I finally decided to follow her lead and pick up The Way of Shadows. I'm thrilled I did. You have quickly become one of my favorite authors, and I cannot wait for the next adventure you have planned. Thanks so much!Brittanybsfurin@gmail.com

Thanks for the interview, BRENT and Book Monsters! Yes, my cousin with the same first name gets called “Brett“ all the time too! Poetry...interesting (I hope you {Brent} didn't get the response of "You are better at prose, short stories, etc." number I received).

I enjoy your writing very much and I love when writers I like, as yourself, talk about little personal incidents, hobbies, or events in their lives.

Thanks for the interview, BRENT and Book Monsters! Yes, my cousin with the same first name gets called “Brett“ all the time too! Poetry...interesting (I hope you {Brent} didn't get the response of "You are better at prose, short stories, etc." number I received).

I enjoy your writing very much and I love when writers I like, as yourself, talk about little personal incidents, hobbies, or events in their lives.

Thanks, everyone! Gisele, how to beat your cousin: 1) cheat, 2) play even more than he does (!), 3) he'll love you more if you keep playing and losing anyway. Best of luck! Oh, and I'll get the prize-picking sorted out tomorrow and we'll get those in the mail! -Brent

...i need to read E.A. Poe again^^I loved the Nightangel Trilogie and at the moment i take my german "Black Prism" where ever i go!I introduced Bretts first books to all my friends and now we have something like a little "we-love-Durzo" club :)so GREETINGS FROM YOUR GERMAN FANS :)(chrisi.poell@web.de)